Captain America (2011) Dir Joe Johnston
I think this is an improvement on Ironman 2 and Thor but that wasn't hard. Both of those films felt like set-ups for the Avengers but I feel they needed to be more stand-alone. The studio are trying to build anticipation for the 'Avengers' but why not make quality products also. Anyway back to CA - a good blend of action with some character development. I felt that the ending was another typical massive-shoot out without any engagement. When will Hollywood learn that drama and engagement doesn't require scale? On the whole, good but I wonder what will happen after the "Avengers'? How can they return to single-person films when all they are now are set-ups for something bigger?
Thursday 4 August 2011
How did a year go past?
Time passes by and it shocks me that I last blogged in December. 2 weeks into the summer break and lots done. Masters going well and lessons being planned for September. Ticked off many of the culture boxes for London. Saw the following this week:
A Separation (2011) directed by Asghar Farhadi at the Curzon Soho is a fantastic example of Iranian cinema beyond the poetic. Up there with 'Blackboards' and 'The Apple' and 'Offside'. September and teaching 'Iranian cinema' is fast approaching. The films I can provide this year will be superb. Farhadi creates a tense drama which gives a powerful insight beyond the commonly held stereotypes of Iran. Everyone should watch it.
What else? Saw Toulouse Lautrec and Jane Avril at the beautiful Courtauld Gallery. Lautrec preliminary paintings were ferocious explosions of colors and loose form. His superb use of green suggest the absinthe fueled society alongside ideas of the other and the ethereal nature of Paris at that time.
Then leapt across the river to see Tracy Emin 'Love is what you want' which was a survey of her work. I've always loved Emin ever since I was 16 and was led into the light by my good friend Mark. She is criticized by many for her lack of artistic skill or prowess yet her work reminds me of Schiele and Jenny Holzer. What is artistic skill anyway? Technique? Ideas? Inspiration? Or the ability to sell your work? (A Hirst like trait) She also has craft skills and uses textiles to her advantage. As I get older, I enjoy looking at craft and pottery more and more.
Today I dragged my Dad to see 'Dirt' at the Wellcome centre which is a utopia just like the Apple Store. Every exhibition I see there gives a fascinating anthropological insight supported by art, film, social documents and a fantastic use of diagrams and maps. 'War and Medicine' was one of the best exhibitions I have ever seen and I saw it here 2 years ago. Anyone interested should try and pick up the exhibition guide on Amazon.
Then we went to go and see 'Out of this World' at the British Library which was a history of Science fiction as a genre. It showed its origins from 2AD onwards. The sections dealing with the end of the world and 'steampunk' were fascinating. I bought a book called the 'steampunk encyclopedia' which I've been awaiting for ages. It has sections on the origins of steampunk and will be a fascinating read.
Anyway all packed for Scandinavia tmrw. Taxi to Gatwick will probably cost as much as both sets of flights. Copenhagen and Chris' booked hostels to look forward to.
A Separation (2011) directed by Asghar Farhadi at the Curzon Soho is a fantastic example of Iranian cinema beyond the poetic. Up there with 'Blackboards' and 'The Apple' and 'Offside'. September and teaching 'Iranian cinema' is fast approaching. The films I can provide this year will be superb. Farhadi creates a tense drama which gives a powerful insight beyond the commonly held stereotypes of Iran. Everyone should watch it.
What else? Saw Toulouse Lautrec and Jane Avril at the beautiful Courtauld Gallery. Lautrec preliminary paintings were ferocious explosions of colors and loose form. His superb use of green suggest the absinthe fueled society alongside ideas of the other and the ethereal nature of Paris at that time.
Then leapt across the river to see Tracy Emin 'Love is what you want' which was a survey of her work. I've always loved Emin ever since I was 16 and was led into the light by my good friend Mark. She is criticized by many for her lack of artistic skill or prowess yet her work reminds me of Schiele and Jenny Holzer. What is artistic skill anyway? Technique? Ideas? Inspiration? Or the ability to sell your work? (A Hirst like trait) She also has craft skills and uses textiles to her advantage. As I get older, I enjoy looking at craft and pottery more and more.
Today I dragged my Dad to see 'Dirt' at the Wellcome centre which is a utopia just like the Apple Store. Every exhibition I see there gives a fascinating anthropological insight supported by art, film, social documents and a fantastic use of diagrams and maps. 'War and Medicine' was one of the best exhibitions I have ever seen and I saw it here 2 years ago. Anyone interested should try and pick up the exhibition guide on Amazon.
Then we went to go and see 'Out of this World' at the British Library which was a history of Science fiction as a genre. It showed its origins from 2AD onwards. The sections dealing with the end of the world and 'steampunk' were fascinating. I bought a book called the 'steampunk encyclopedia' which I've been awaiting for ages. It has sections on the origins of steampunk and will be a fascinating read.
Anyway all packed for Scandinavia tmrw. Taxi to Gatwick will probably cost as much as both sets of flights. Copenhagen and Chris' booked hostels to look forward to.
Friday 31 December 2010
Being the good husband
Sophia wrote this on her facebook status last week when she was horribly sick. Paul has the best husband! Holds back my hair when I'm sick, goes out into the snow to fetch peppermint tea, rubs my feet and even offered to read to me. I chose well.
As did I my love x
As did I my love x
Tuesday 10 August 2010
Excitement and Being Thick
Reading - The Pregnant Widow by Martin Amis
Watching - Everything on the box that I've recorded for the last 6 months - god bless the summer holidays xxx
Listening - Exile on Main Street by The Rolling Stones
Excitement levels were worrying me recently. I was worried that I was not getting excited enough about upcoming events in my life. For example I'm going to Australia with Sophia and I was not feeling excitement of traveling to the other side of the world and meeting my new family. I was looking forward to it but I wasn't as excited as I thought I would be. I wonder if this a modern condition that afflicts us all? We have so many great things in our lives on a regular basis that perhaps we never have time to get excited about things anymore.
Maybe a solution to this is to actually think about upcoming things so as to actually look forward to them? Anyway I'm excited now as I'm off tmrw. The airplane is one of the most exciting things for me. I love the process of traveling and flying. 24 hours of flight strikes fear into some people but to me it is heaven. 24 hours of time to read, watch movies and basically be pampered. Then the wonders of exploring a new country and meeting my new family - so exciting!
Reading Martin Amis' 'The Pregnant Widow' which is quite phenomenal. I'm flying through it and the ideas in it are very complex. It deals with the sexual revolution and the emergence of feminism. The style is confrontational, brash and concise. There are moments when I'm flying through it and others when I'm turning back through pages, figuring things out.
It is one of those books which really does highlight to me that I am quite thick. I know that I could never write something of this magnitude. I'm capable of understanding it and seeing its place within history but I could never achieve anything like it. I love the idea of writing and have written a number of plays over the years but the scale, ability and technique demonstrated everyday by novelists, film-makers, journalists and poets really grounds you in reality and shows you how thick you basically are. Maybe thick is the wrong word? Maybe unspectacular?
Amis makes a hilarious yet moving point about poo in the novel where the main character Keith discusses the sadness of defecation where we leave the 'dead concerns of yesterday behind us' and are 'humiliated by the emanation of decay'. Brilliant and funny yet sad.
Watching - Everything on the box that I've recorded for the last 6 months - god bless the summer holidays xxx
Listening - Exile on Main Street by The Rolling Stones
Excitement levels were worrying me recently. I was worried that I was not getting excited enough about upcoming events in my life. For example I'm going to Australia with Sophia and I was not feeling excitement of traveling to the other side of the world and meeting my new family. I was looking forward to it but I wasn't as excited as I thought I would be. I wonder if this a modern condition that afflicts us all? We have so many great things in our lives on a regular basis that perhaps we never have time to get excited about things anymore.
Maybe a solution to this is to actually think about upcoming things so as to actually look forward to them? Anyway I'm excited now as I'm off tmrw. The airplane is one of the most exciting things for me. I love the process of traveling and flying. 24 hours of flight strikes fear into some people but to me it is heaven. 24 hours of time to read, watch movies and basically be pampered. Then the wonders of exploring a new country and meeting my new family - so exciting!
Reading Martin Amis' 'The Pregnant Widow' which is quite phenomenal. I'm flying through it and the ideas in it are very complex. It deals with the sexual revolution and the emergence of feminism. The style is confrontational, brash and concise. There are moments when I'm flying through it and others when I'm turning back through pages, figuring things out.
It is one of those books which really does highlight to me that I am quite thick. I know that I could never write something of this magnitude. I'm capable of understanding it and seeing its place within history but I could never achieve anything like it. I love the idea of writing and have written a number of plays over the years but the scale, ability and technique demonstrated everyday by novelists, film-makers, journalists and poets really grounds you in reality and shows you how thick you basically are. Maybe thick is the wrong word? Maybe unspectacular?
Amis makes a hilarious yet moving point about poo in the novel where the main character Keith discusses the sadness of defecation where we leave the 'dead concerns of yesterday behind us' and are 'humiliated by the emanation of decay'. Brilliant and funny yet sad.
Saturday 7 August 2010
Rambles
Reading - A tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Watched - Wild Swimming on BBC2
Listening - Angel by Massive Attack
Why when trying to save money is one faced with this option? Do you fancy some duck from Chinatown? Um, yes and I will sell a body part to have some. It might have something to do with beer consumption.
What hasn't happened since my last blog. I went to go and see the John Sergent and the Sea exhibition at the Royal Academy which was fabulous and did contain the great phrase that the Impressionists were radical and dangerous. I know that at the time they were and rebelled against the traditional standards and expectations but it was amusing to read.
One of his paintings was of Oyster fisherwomen on a beach in Brittany and it showed how his style was quite wild with free hand brushstrokes and some absence of detail in his prep paintings. However for his final paintings he had to paint to the traditional standards with clarity, composition and absolute detail. It was great that the exhibition showcased this.
Almost finished reading 'A Tale of Two Cities' which is both brilliant yet complex. Sometimes you want Dickens to just get to the point but he has left me with some haunting images, like the knitting women who are already the judge, jury and executioner for the French Aristocrats they will revolt against. I am going to have to read some more Dickens methinks.
Things are changing in life, Mike is moving away from Bristol which is a shocker but I wish him well and Elisabeth is moving to Oz in October. Just spent the day with her, drinking tea and eating cake and making strong statements that we will keep in touch with each other. I'm so hopeless at this but will do it-even if I send her a few lines about eating Scampi.
I'm off to Oz in less that 5 days. It is beginning to get exciting now. I have my books for the plane and my suit for my second wedding where I hopefully will not cry the whole time. Maybe Sophia will cry the whole time in some kind of reversal?
The glory of Saturday awaits with marking for school and being beaten at Tennis by Ramit. I'm planning on returning his serve 2/3 of the time this week. Maybe a 6-3 game might be on the cards-I can only hope.
Last mention but never least - I love my wife x
Watched - Wild Swimming on BBC2
Listening - Angel by Massive Attack
Why when trying to save money is one faced with this option? Do you fancy some duck from Chinatown? Um, yes and I will sell a body part to have some. It might have something to do with beer consumption.
What hasn't happened since my last blog. I went to go and see the John Sergent and the Sea exhibition at the Royal Academy which was fabulous and did contain the great phrase that the Impressionists were radical and dangerous. I know that at the time they were and rebelled against the traditional standards and expectations but it was amusing to read.
One of his paintings was of Oyster fisherwomen on a beach in Brittany and it showed how his style was quite wild with free hand brushstrokes and some absence of detail in his prep paintings. However for his final paintings he had to paint to the traditional standards with clarity, composition and absolute detail. It was great that the exhibition showcased this.
Almost finished reading 'A Tale of Two Cities' which is both brilliant yet complex. Sometimes you want Dickens to just get to the point but he has left me with some haunting images, like the knitting women who are already the judge, jury and executioner for the French Aristocrats they will revolt against. I am going to have to read some more Dickens methinks.
Things are changing in life, Mike is moving away from Bristol which is a shocker but I wish him well and Elisabeth is moving to Oz in October. Just spent the day with her, drinking tea and eating cake and making strong statements that we will keep in touch with each other. I'm so hopeless at this but will do it-even if I send her a few lines about eating Scampi.
I'm off to Oz in less that 5 days. It is beginning to get exciting now. I have my books for the plane and my suit for my second wedding where I hopefully will not cry the whole time. Maybe Sophia will cry the whole time in some kind of reversal?
The glory of Saturday awaits with marking for school and being beaten at Tennis by Ramit. I'm planning on returning his serve 2/3 of the time this week. Maybe a 6-3 game might be on the cards-I can only hope.
Last mention but never least - I love my wife x
Tuesday 27 July 2010
Posted the blog without finishing-1st time bloggers mistake
Okay so I didn't finish the last blog as I didn't finish writing about my week. On Sunday the 25th I went to go and see 'The Great Game' theatre festival at the Tricycle theatre which was 12 plays about Afghanistan. It was a fantastic festival with some great plays. One of the best was about the assassination of Massoud, the leader of the Northern Alliance. It also contained key testimonials from experts on Afghanistan and how the current situation can be improved. President Obama has set a deadline of July 2011 for troop withdrawal from Afghanistan but where will this leave the country?
So Monday I went out with the lovely Carly and we saw the BP Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery which was excellent. There were some fantastic portraits which show yet again that painting is not a dead medium in a digital age. Everyone should go and see it.
Then on a whim, we went to see big haired Nicholas Cage in Bad Lieutenant at the Prince Charles. It is probably one of the weirdest films I have seen but also excellent. It is a marmite film where you either love it or hate it. Nicholas Cage takes more drugs in the film than Withnail drinks. He also does not seem to drink or eat anything. He beats up an old woman but you still like him. A powerhouse performance which I recommend everyone to go and see.
Today has been the lazy day! We were going to have dirty chicken but we did not succumb. We are such strong people! Have at last posted the Lovefilm discs back which feels like a phenomenal achievement! They have been staring at me for 3-4 months but now I have watched them. One of them was the first episode of Cracker which was excellent-Robbie Coltrance is sublime! Watch it!
A great day where I have beaten the curse of Lovefilm discs-such a triumph!
Monday 26 July 2010
The Cultural Week - July 19th-25th
What a week it has been. The big 27 has finally been reached so I am in the late twenties now. I am going to argue that it is the late mid twenties until I am 29 years and 364 days old though.
Went to see 'After the Dance' by Terrence Rattigan at the National which was really good. It was about the post WW1 generation (The Bright Young Things) and how they deal with the realities of 1939. The jaded main character becomes idealistic for awhile before being crushed and returning to his destructive ways at the end. I wondered if Rattigan was writing a character piece or if the characters has allegorical / metaphorical significance. When I thought of the metaphorical significance, it made the power of the characterization weaker so I'm just going to look at it as a character piece.
On the Thursday after my birthday, went to see 'The Lion King' musical which was great fun and had a wonderful use of costumes and puppetry. Really want to go and see Warhorse now.
On Saturday we went to go and 'Comedy of Errors' at The Regents Park Open Air theatre which were exchange tickets for last year when we watched actors in the rain before they called it off. It is one of Shakespeare's earliest plays and was a great comedy all about mixed identities. The use of verse was excellent and the empirical North African setting was sublime. It was basically a Casablanca / Indian Raj rip-off in its staging and the company used songs from the periods + musical numbers which really engaged the audience. It was a fantastic example of contextualizing the text and making it fun and accessible-something Shakespeare would have wanted.
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